Mosaic, the original meaning is using a splicing inlays to do the meticulous decoration. In construction area, the professional name is mosaic tiles, which are divided into ceramic mosaic tiles and glass mosaic tiles.
Mosaic has a long history of development. Now, follow in the steps of T&A CERAMICS to appreciate the colorful history of mosaics and the wonderful display of mosaics in each step of the T&A production process.
What is the origin of Mosaic Tile?
Mosaic originated in ancient Greece. The marble mosaics which used in the early Greek time are most commonly used black marble and white marble to match each other. Only authoritative rulers and rich people can afford artisans and buy materials to show this luxurious art.
In the late Greek mosaic time, in order to enrich the works more diversified, artists began to need much more smaller pieces of broken stones and cut small stones to complete a mosaic by themselves.
In the Roman period, mosaics had become very common decoration. The floors and walls of normal houses and public buildings were decorated with mosaics. This made Rome look like so rich at that time and made the ancient Roman buildings incredibly luxurious.
The golden age of mosaics originated from the early Christians who came to Rome. They were persecuted and they could only gather in passages and basements. Since most people are illiterate, so they use glass mosaic murals to depict the story of Jesus Christ on the walls in these basements.
Constantine the Great was the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity and proclaimed it vigorously. The churches of Constantinople were decorated with a large number of mosaics, and more and more colors were used, and gold leaf was also burned and used in transparent glass. The characteristic of Sicilian mosaics is the gold base. This Byzantine period is almost equated with the word of mosaic.
What’s the Development of Mosaic Tile?
*Ancient Greco-Roman period
The oldest form of mosaic can be traced back to the Bronze Age in Greece (1600 to 1000 BC), when the floor was decorated with small pebbles worn by water.Around 800 BC, there were roads using small stones of various colors to pave patterns, but these patterns were not very structured yet. It was not until about 400 BC that Greek talents raised the technique of small pebbles to an artistic level. Its patterns have delicate geometric figures as well as detailed pictures of people or animals. In 200 BC, mosaics were used in works that required more detail and color range.Because these small inlays can be as small as a few millimeters in size, they can mimic the appearance of pictures. This is the result of the Romans learning mosaic skills from the Greeks and carrying forward this art during the Roman Empire. Typical Roman themes include scenes celebrating the gods, depictions of family things, and geometric designs. The most representative example is the “Beware of the Vicious Dog” picture of Pompeii in the Greco-Roman period.
*Byzantine period
We can still see the mosaic art that has been well-preserved in the Byzantine Empire that has flourished since 500 AD. The mosaic style of the Byzantine period was influenced by the East, and began to use a special glass mosaic-enamel. The enamel has a hard surface and contains extremely small bubbles. The enamel is sometimes burnt with gold or silver foil to make it shiny. Enamel is usually used to decorate ceilings or walls (only used for floors in Roman times). At that time, every room in Ravenna, Italy was decorated with mosaics, and mosaic art developed to its peak during this period. The typical Christian patterns of Byzantine mosaics such as “Christ was baptized in the Jordan River” and “The Good Shepherd” have been well preserved today. In addition, some works combine portraits of the emperor and the queen, such as the presbytery of the church of San Vitale, which depicts two important imperial figures-Justinian I and Theodore Pull Queen. The impressive mosaics on these long churches and back halls of Ravenna give her the name “Mosaic Capital”.
*Middle Eastern period
In the eighth century, the Moors in Western Europe brought Islamic mosaic and tile art to the Iberian Peninsula. In the Muslim world, stones, glass, and ceramics are all materials that emit geometric or mathematical patterns. In Arab countries, there are very different decorative styles which make special shapes and closely arranged by hand
*19th century-20th century period
When painting developed since the 14th century, people’s interest in mosaic was in extremely lacking. As a result, the techniques and ideas for making mosaics are gradually lost, although some tiles are still visible in the monastery.
At the end of the 19th century in Spain, Antoni Gaudi began to integrate mosaics into architectural art. The swivel backrest mosaic chair which he made in Guel Park in Barcelona is a classic masterpiece of mosaic in architectural art.
The brand-new processing method fully expresses the powerful abstraction in the architectural art. The combination of mosaic art in the moving and curved architectural structures reflects the characteristics of mosaics that are the most sophisticated in detail transformation. At the beginning of the 20th century, Antoni Gaudi and Josep co-designed Guell Park in Barcelona also had a surprising mosaic wall.
*Modern Time
Nowadays, there are more and more flexible materials that can be used to make mosaics. From traditional marble, small pebbles, glass bricks, pottery pieces, porcelain pieces and enamel, etc., to any materials you can use in life such as buttons, tableware or stationery. In today’s era of high industrial technology, glass-like inlays made of gold and silver can also be mass-produced. In the 1950s, the art world was inspired by the magnificent Byzantine mosaics that were once again reproduced. Together with the emergence of new materials such as fiberglass and plastics, modern mosaic mosaicists were able to create unique new opportunities for eye-catching works of art. As a traditional and powerful means of decoration, mosaic has become a very expressive art form in modern decoration.
What’s the Usage of Mosaic Tile?
Mainly used for wall and floor decoration. Due to the small part area of a single mosaic, a wide variety of colors, and infinite combinations, it can fully express the designer’s style and design inspiration, and show its unique artistic charm and personality. It is widely used in hotels, bars, stations, swimming pools, entertainment places, home walls and floors, art mosaics, etc.
How to Cut from Tile to Mosaic Tile
As professional tile manufacturer for more than 20 years, beside creation for tiles, T&A CERAMICS also focus on tile mosaic development. What T&A CERAMICS want is combine the tiles and mosaic perfectly and make more choice to customers. As T&A CERAMICS has many good designs of tiles, that means, T&A will have many good designs to mosaic as well. Well how to cut the tiles to let them become beautiful mosaic will be an issue concerned by customers. So now we will make an example to show our mosaic tile process.
Based on 48x48mm small tile size in 300x300mm pc mosaic example:
*Cutting
Original size of 60×60 tiles, firstly, factory will do the cutting 600x48mm strip. Then will do the second cutting step to make the cutting size of 48x48mm.
*Air-Drying
After cutting the size to the customer required size, then will make the small pieces of tiles dried to wait to do next step.
*Sticking
After confirm the small size tile is dried, then will stick the tiles. Put the small tiles in the mould and make the back of tiles on the top. After put all small tiles, use the glue and put the 30×30 net on the top the tiles. Then put in the kiln furnace to bake it
*Edging
Making the edge rectified by small piece by small piece
*Inspection
During the production, our QC will check the all process, and before putting in the cartons, our QC will do the spot check again to make sure the quality.
*Packing
After confirming the quality, then we will put in the mosaic in the carton. For 30x30cm set mosaic, one carton will put 11 Pcs. And in one pallet, usually we will put 63 cartons in one pallets. We will use poly-wood on the top of mosaic to make sure the safety during the transportation.
Which shape of Mosaic We can Do?
Our factory can do the rectangle shape, square shape, diamond shape and so on. Customer just sent us their requirement size, then we can do the mosaic according to customer demand.
Nowadays, more and more people would like to combine the tile and mosaic used in the project for hotel, shopping mall plaza and also decorate apartment and house. So as a long time experience tile manufacturer, T&A Ceramics also will be a good tile mosaic supplier to give you more suggestion for your reference.
